Analysing the PKK’s Rebel Governance: Data limitations and some potential solutions

Abstract

The content of insurgent movements’ publications can be telling, yet the issues which it decides to exclude or deny can be of even greater illustrative value. Downplaying violence against civilians or sources of illicit funding can be expected, but what of movements who ignore practises of rebel governance, which are not only popular with their supportive constituencies but also bestow legitimacy with the international public? This paper looks at the puzzling case of the PKK whose publications systematically neglected forms of governance – in particular its alternative justice systems - it implemented at the height of its insurgency in Turkey through the 1980’s and 1990s.